Related

KAMLOOPS — Taylor Atwood’s ultimate football moment came on his Pro Day in 2010, when the head coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick, said he reminded him of Danny Woodhead, the Patriots’ bowling ball-sized tailback from tiny Chadron State College, an NCAA Division II outpost in Nebraska.

“It was a great compliment,” Atwood said Friday, at B.C. Lions rookie camp, reflecting on his one previous brush with professional football, at an NFL evaluation workout at the University of South Florida. “I know the level of success Danny has had. Just to be put in that category was nice, to hear it from a Super Bowl champion coach.”

Woodhead, 5-7, 200 pounds, became the most prolific rusher in U.S. college football at Chadron, and he has gone on to become an icon for any player who hopes to rise from small-college obscurity to play professional football.

Atwood hopes to become another, though his college background is even more off the charts than Woodhead’s.

Quick and explosive, an inch shorter and a tick slower in the 40-yard dash than Woodhead, Atwood scored three touchdowns in his final college game, playing for Webber International, a Division III school, in the 2010 Oyster Bowl.

Okay, you’ve never heard of the Oyster Bowl before — or Webber International, for that matter. But the bowl game, in Hampton, Va. — Webber defeated The Apprentice School, where students go to play football and learn how to build ships — is more than 60 years old.

Located in central Florida, hard by the shores of Crooked Lake, in bass-fishing country, Webber International has only 680 students. Yet, despite being smaller than most high schools in the state, Webber punches far above of its weight class in three areas — business, law and bowling.

Really, bowling.

In April, Webber International became only the third school in U.S. history to claim NCAA bowling titles in men’s and women’s divisions in the same year.

The only previous schools to do it are Wichita State (school population: 14,000) and Arizona State (school pop: 72,000).

“I don’t know why we’re so good at bowling,” Atwood explained. “Maybe it’s because Webber students have a lot of time on their hands. There’s not much to do there [Babson Park, Fla.] except shop at Walmart.”

Or hit the books. According to U.S. News and World Report, Webber is one of the top schools in the country in which to study law and business, the core of its limited curriculum.

Atwood, 23, has a degree in finance and worked last year for the Bank of America, in his first year away for football. He hated it. Not the banking industry, mind you, but the fact he had nowhere to play.

“Although I like finance, football is my No. 1 priority,” Atwood said. “Football is at the heart of who I am. I’ve been playing since I was four years old.”

The thing is, running backs who are 5-6, 185 pounds, and played at a Division III school, a rung below the level at Simon Fraser University, aren’t in great demand by pro teams.

Indeed, Atwood’s former teammate, defensive back Vince Anderson, became the first football player from Webber to make the NFL when the New York Giants signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2009. Anderson later spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before he was added to the training camp roster of the Montreal Alouettes earlier this year.

“He motivated me, and I motivated him,” Atwood said. “Vince and I were the top two guys on our team. We always went up against each other, because we liked the competition. Hopefully, I’ll see him in Montreal.”

To do that, Atwood first had to make it to a CFL training camp. He went to a Lions free-agent tryout in Fort Lauderdale earlier this year, but didn’t get a camp invite. Later, he drove eight hours north to another Lions casting call in Atlanta. Still, no invitation.

Finally, in early May, he flew across the U.S., at his own expense, for his third, last-ditch attempt to catch the eye of Lions coaches and personnel people at a workout in Seattle.

“There was never any question about his quickness and agility,” explained Lions player personnel coordinator Neil McEvoy. “But his 40 time needed work. He ran 4.7 the first time. Not good enough. He got it down 4.6 in Atlanta. Marginal. Then, he showed up in Seattle — we didn’t know he was going to be there — and ran a 4.5. He’d lowered his time significantly.”

“It tells you how badly he wants it,” said head coach Mike Benevides. “It tells you he’ll do anything, to take the right steps to improve and get better. He’s one of those guys you can’t deny because of his desire.”

Atwood believes in the power of prayer, and he believes his have been answered, merely by the fact a pro team is giving him a chance to do what he loves.

“The only thing that hindered me from going to a bigger school was my size,” Atwood said. “I’ve been behind the eight ball my entire football life. That’s made me strive to play that much harder, train that much harder. Getting the opportunity to come here and show what I have, I’m going to make the most of it.”

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

B.C. Lions tryout answer to mighty mite Taylor Atwood’s prayers

Video

Sports Highlights

Best of Postmedia

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Ignore the diversions in the United States: athletes kneeling or standing during the national anthem; Republicans flailing and failing again on health care; a kick-boxing creationist possibly becoming senator from Alabama. Calamity looms elsewhere. We are hurtling toward war with North Korea. It may be as early as next month. […]

It wasn’t in the middle of a farmer’s muddy field or deep in the boreal forest where the Canadian oilsands truly struck pay dirt. It was inside Fort McMurray’s recreation centre. More than 1,400 oilpatch workers, corporate executives, provincial leaders and the country’s prime minister assembled 21 years ago in northern Alberta to grasp a […]

Google’s powerful search engine is defeating some court-ordered publication bans in Canada and undermining efforts to protect young offenders and victims. Computer experts believe it’s an unintended, “mind-boggling” consequence of Google search algorithms. In six high-profile cases documented by the Citizen, searching the name of a young offender or victim online pointed to media coverage […]

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.